Senate considers bill to disrupt illicit funding for criminals, terrorists in Nigeria

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Senate on Tuesday considered a bill that would disrupt the financial flow and funding of criminal enterprise and terrorist financing in Nigeria through the seizure of assets and monies marked as proceeds of crime.
Titled: Proceeds of Crime Bill, 2021, the piece of legislation is sponsored by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi North).
Leading debate on the bill, Senator Abdullahi said it seeks to provide for a comprehensive legal and institutional framework for the recovery and management of proceeds of crime or benefits derived from unlawful activities.
He explained that its passage and assent into law would harmonize and consolidate the legal provisions on the recovery of proceeds of crime in Nigeria.
According to the lawmaker, Nigeria had severally attempted to put in place an appropriate Proceeds of Crime legislation since 2007.
“Efforts to develop a comprehensive bill have been impeded by agency rivalry since 2011.
“The effort to sign the Proceeds of Crime Bill into law in 2019 was delayed as a result of complaints by agencies that claimed that the Bill is intended to take away their powers”, the Senate Leader said.
He noted that, “during the evaluation of Nigeria in 2007 by the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF), they observed in their report that the legal framework for the recovery and management of stolen assets in Nigeria is inadequate and do not comply with international standards.”
Abdullahi lamented that due to lack of centrally managed database on recovered assets, effort to track and maintain the actual number of the seized assets, their location and their value is made difficult.
“There have been reported and verifiable instances over the years that showed that some recovered assets were being misused, stolen or lost.
According to him, “Nigeria’s application has remained elusive as the agencies argue to retain their powers at the expense of national interest.”
He stressed that the bill has taken into account the issues raised by the LEAs in relation to their continuing engagement in civil recovery without compromising the international applicable standards in United Nations Conventions.
Abdullahi said, when passed by the National Assembly and assented into law by the President, the bill would provide for the seizure of assets from criminal enterprises, including terrorist organizations, and bandits who undertake their operations with funding from individuals within or outside the country.
“A strong asset recovery measure can also disrupt the activities of these criminal organizations and reduce the level of insecurity in the country”, he said.